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A mouse representing Fatah and a lion portraying Hamas in a video aired on Hamas' Al Aqsa Television. (AP) Last update - 20:05 25/08/2007 Hamas TV attacks Fatah using cartoon mimicking Disney's 'Lion King' By The Associated Press Tags: Disney, Hamas TV, Fatah  After killing off its Mickey Mouse-lookalike, Hamas has turned to another Disneyesque character - televising a cartoon with a Lion King wannabe to portray the Islamic group's victory in the Gaza Strip over the Fatah movement. The cartoon depicts Fatah members as sneaky rats, brandishing guns and being showered with U.S. dollars, while Hamas is portrayed as a confident, calm lion that resembles Simba in the 1994 Walt Disney Co. movie The Lion King. The five-minute video, titled A message to the criminal gangs in the occupied West Bank, is the second production of the Hamas-run Al Aqsa TV enlisting a famous Disney character. Advertisement In May, Hamas TV used a Mickey Mouse knockoff to preach Islamic domination to children. After an uproar among Israelis and Palestinians, that character was killed off and his weekly show replaced. Hazem Sharawi, an executive with Hamas TV, said the cartoon of the lion vanquishing the rats was broadcast Thursday but quickly pulled off the air for revisions. He said it was flashed for one day to counter what he called anti-Hamas propaganda coming from Fatah in the West Bank. The cartoon also was posted on the Web site of the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington-based group that monitors the Arabic media. The piece shows rats trampling over Gaza, burning houses, stepping over homes, uprooting trees, firing at mosques and desecrating the Quran, Islam's holy book. Their leader is clearly a portrayal of Fatah's former Gaza strongman, Mohammed Dahlan, who has fled Gaza. Wearing a tie and smoking a cigar, the chief rat grabs a microphone and tells the crowd: "Move back and let Hamas shoot me." Dahlan made that comment during the showdown with Hamas, and his voice is dubbed into the scene. Throughout the video, the lion silently watches the rats, preparing his claws and shaking his mane. When he pounces, the rats flee in terror as he knocks them about with his claws. Injured and limping rats then say: "Off to the West Bank." "Viewers from all over loved it. They called in to praise it," Sharawi said. After Hamas' victory in Gaza two months ago, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, a Fatah member, formed a new government in the West Bank, where many top Fatah officials in Gaza have taken refuge. In the West Bank, Fatah spokesman Fahmi al-Zarir, who watched the video, called it shameful and rude. "Hamas has thrown away its morals and humanity," he said. "Hamas has gone far toward harming the Palestinian culture and history in all aspects." Sharawi said the final version will be toned down before it is broadcast again, with the Dahlan scene among those to be cut. But he said there were no plans to erase the Lion King references, including a final scene showing the victorious lion standing on a hill overlooking Gaza with his mane flying in the wind. "Disney stole a lion from the forest. We stole another lion," Sharawi said with a chuckle. Related articles Animal rights group slams Hamas TV clip of man abusing cats, lions Hamas television to replace 'martyred' Mickey Mouse look-alike Bookmark to del.icio.us   Former top spy speaks Ex-Mossad chief Halevy says a strike on Iran would affect Israel for 100 years. Trying Hitler Did a light sentence in a Munich trial pave the way for Hitler's rise to power?   1.   Hamas really is a joke 19:28  |  Shepherd 25/08/07   2.   Doesn`t look like Simba to me 20:17  |  Isaac Brooks 25/08/07   3.   good for them. so why do you have a problem with that? 20:45  |  sami 25/08/07   4.   For Isaac Brooks # 2 21:26  |  Clickfool 25/08/07   5.   how sick is the arab mind? 21:50  |  gino 25/08/07   6.   what sick minds these people have! 22:00  |  ron gagnon 25/08/07   7.   Who called to say they loved it? 22:29  |  Lynn 25/08/07   8.   Israel Is Supposed to Negotiate With the Likes of This? 23:17  |  Yoram 25/08/07   9.   Hamas` only original contriibution 00:11  |  Gina 26/08/07   10.   Enough already When is the world getting rid of these Lunatics 00:12  |  Kipperraes 26/08/07   11.   Disneyesque? 00:24  |  JonathanGotTSed 26/08/07   12.   where`s michael eisner & his lawyers 00:35  |  rich 26/08/07   13.   Hamas Disney Club no state should be without one 00:51  |  zionist forever 26/08/07   14.   Dahlan is rodent-like 01:00  |  Big Ben 26/08/07   15.   "A mouse representing Fatah . . . " AP 01:26  |  Mark Lincoln 26/08/07   16.   4Ron Gagnon what cartoons have you been watching,2 people were 01:33  |  lakshmi 26/08/07   17.   re: Yoram 01:34  |  Paulo 26/08/07   18.   There is something noble about the generic Lion,king of the 01:37  |  lakshmi 26/08/07   19.   please send aid money NOW to fund more cartoons! 01:47  |  Richard S 26/08/07   20.   Soon and very soon.... 02:23  |  Webster 26/08/07   21.   A little more original looking than the Mickey Knockoff 03:44  |  Efox 03/02/08   22.   MEMRI and copyright 04:37  |  Fed Up 12/02/08

Read & React Tensions high in Gaza as Hamas cracks down on rival groups Responses: 172 Security sources: Israeli prisons are training grounds for Hamas terrorists Responses: 21 IDF officers: Yeshiva teachers incite W. Bank teens to violence Responses: 39 Report: Rabbis slam removal, publication of note Obama left in Western Wall cracks Responses: 32 Aluf Benn: 'Hamastan' is prototyope for future Palestinian state Responses: 24 Rosner's Domain Barack Obama, the fashionable darling of the Israeli left The Lebanese are undercutting goodwill in Washington (WTR) Is Jimmy Carter 'tone-deaf' to Jewish sensibilities? (WTR) Will Lebanon pay the price for the prisoner swap deal? More Headlines 14:32 Israeli troops in Hebron kill Hamas man behind Dimona attack 14:40 Israel denies reports it plans to pull out of northern Ghajar 12:22 Tensions high in Gaza as Hamas cracks down on rival groups 14:38 MK Lieberman: Either charge me for corruption or drop case 10:10 IDF officers: Yeshiva teachers incite W. Bank teens to violence 13:46 Report: Rabbis slam removal, publication of note Obama left in cracks of Western Wall 14:17 Award-winning Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine dies at age 82 09:57 Police seeks earlier questioning of Olmert in corruption probe 13:19 Mubarak hosts Abbas for talks on regional issues, including Shalit 07:15 Security sources: Israeli prisons are training grounds for Hamas terrorists 09:41 Members of IAF Unit 669 head to Laos to search for missing Israeli tourist 05:38 Dutch Jews who lived in hiding during Nazi occupation seek reparations Previous Editions Select Day 25 jul 24 jul 23 jul 22 jul 21 jul 20 jul 18 jul 17 jul 16 jul 15 jul 14 jul 13 jul

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